JohnnyL's 1980 GS550L Cafe Build

[Redman]

.....
. . . . ........ A picture is worth a thousand words. . . . ..

And, what is it we are seeing there?
In a few words...??
? A locating pin out of place ? ?

[bwringer]

This was truly heartbreaking to see in person. On the plus side, he'll be able to build a GS engine with one hand blindfolded when this is all said and done.

The M-Unit is mind-blowing. It just feels so wrong to not have a fuse box, signal relays, etc., but somehow the little magic elves in the M-Unit replace most of the other widgets needed on a bike. And the Acewell speedo builds in a zillion other functions.

We did spend a fair bit of time experimenting with a pile of open barrel crimpers and dies to find the ones that worked the best for the connector kit John has. Which didn't come with any instructions at all, so that was a journey of discovery until we finally started to grok how all the wee bits and gubbins snap together.

Plenty of winter left, I guess...

[Cipher]

My engine is painted inside from factory. I imagine they do it to save time as the likely do the machining afterwards. So death by locator pin sad sad sad.

On the bright side you painting skills will go up a notch and assembly a whole lot more.

[JohnnyL]

Wow. I was going to ask a question a few posts back but didn't. Now I will. I was curious about your decision to paint inside the stator/starter clutch housing. I don't think I'd ever seen that done before. I was thinking I wouldn't want paint in any cavity w/ moving parts/oil, etc. where the paint could possibly come loose and gum up some orifice. But, If you hadn't painted it, do you believe that you would have noticed the cracking?

Really enjoying the build, sorry for the setback. Keep at it. Will love to see it run.

I actually painted it on accident. I won't be painting the new cases that way. I probably wouldn't have noticed it if it wasn't painted though.

[Rich82GS750TZ]

Wow. I was going to ask a question a few posts back but didn't. Now I will. I was curious about your decision to paint inside the stator/starter clutch housing. I don't think I'd ever seen that done before. I was thinking I wouldn't want paint in any cavity w/ moving parts/oil, etc. where the paint could possibly come loose and gum up some orifice. But, If you hadn't painted it, do you believe that you would have noticed the cracking?

Really enjoying the build, sorry for the setback. Keep at it. Will love to see it run.

[JohnnyL]

Brian came over on Saturday and we got a good jump on the wiring. At the end of our session, we removed the rotor and starter clutch to find the extent of the damage. A picture is worth a thousand words. I am a dumbass. I am a dumbass. I am a dumbass.........................said over a thousand times in my head.

[93Bandit]

The build is coming together nicely! I look forward to seeing it finished. You've definitely given me motivation to start my projects.

As for the cracked case, I know how you feel, to be so close to starting the engine only to find something like this that requires a full tear-down. BUT, you caught it before it caused more damage to other components! So really all this will do is set you back a few bucks and a couple days or so. Really not that big of a deal. Once you accept this, you'll have it back together with good parts in no time!

[JohnnyL]

I appreciate the encouragement fellas. I’m pretty depressed about it but I’m moving on. Brian is coming over tomorrow to help me wire the bike up. Time permitting, we will be pulling the rotor and starter clutch to get better idea of what caused the crack.

Once the wiring is done, I will be pulling the motor and rebuilding it. I ordered a decent looking set of cases off of eBay for $67 shipped to my door(the gasket set actually costs more than the cases at $98). They arrive tomorrow. I’ll get the cases cleaned up, painted and begin the rebuild hopefully sometime next week. It’s a bummer but I think I can rebuild the motor in a couple of hours. At least I don’t have to worry about damaging the cases when I go to split them apart. Hammer and chisel should do the trick nicely. Lol.

There’s still hope to have the bike completely done before the tins are completed with new paint.

[Spyder]

UGHH... That SUCKS... Whataya gonna do? You'll get passed it. Don't give on her yet. This just adds to her story...

[dorkburger]

Yes, thats a drag. And we've all been there at some point.
Embarrassment isn't necessary. Sh1t happens, we learn....

I'm sure that there could be a long runing thread of mechanical screw ups that we could all contribute to if someone started one.

[bwringer]

I think everyone who delves into serious mechanicking has had embarrassing re-work.

I once had to re-open the cases on a GS500 franken-engine I was building three times to deal with things I forgot. Fortunately I didn't get to the point of installing or running the engine.

And I'd hate to count the number of times I've installed a tire the wrong way around. I haven't done that in a while, but there's always that brief moment of "what-if" panic just after the second bead pops, even though I've triple, quadruple, and quintuple checked the arrows. Fortunately, the retro-look tires on John's bike aren't directional... but I still checked very carefully for arrows.

We'll pull the rotor and see what's up this weekend.

[Grimly]

Ouchy.
That's the kind of thing that niggles at me when I assemble something like that; the faint but disturbing notion I've overlooked something small but vital that will have a massive effect.
No worries, the situation is retrievable.
Imagine you'd done it to a really rare set of cases ... but you won't, because this time is the practice set.

[salty_monk]

that's really bad luck Keep going!

[Cipher]

howd it happen? misaligned case halves? is there a gap in the join? have you fired it up yet? will it blow out and cause catastrophic damage or will the engine outlive us all?

id get an organ donor dead engine this is sad.

[JohnnyL]

Well I discovered a MAJOR screw up yesterday. I'm actually embarrassed to post this but the whole point of this thread is to help anyone who is rebuilding their bike. That includes mistakes and all. I majorly screwed up. I don't know how I did it. I'm not even positive it's my fault. I remember clearly putting the case halves together without any issues. However, when I removed the stator cover to replace the stator yesterday, I noticed a crack in the case where the stator side crank shaft bearing sits. It appears as though I didn't have this bearing retaining pin in place when I put the case halves together. Again...I don't remember encountering any resistance when I put the halves together. I even have a photo of everything lined up. This is REALLY f'ing bad. Brian and I will be removing the rotor and starter clutch on Saturday to survey the damage. Regardless, I won't be running the engine like this. I ordered a set of cases off of eBay and will have to rebuild this motor....again. Very disappointing and I'm pretty ashamed.